Modern heroes of horticulture - Roz Chandler
Roz Chandler didn’t grow up knowing she would become a flower farmer. In fact, when she first moved to a five-acre smallholding near Milton Keynes in 2007, it was livestock, chickens, even goats that grabbed her curiosity. But a half-day course in cut flowers changed everything. What began as a side project alongside her strong marketing career gradually grew into something more vivid, fragrant, and deeply rooted.
Today, Roz is the driving force behind Field Gate Flowers nurturing British-grown blooms, teaching others how to grow them sustainably, and turning her passion into purpose.
Before Roz ever planted a seed, she had been navigating quite another landscape. Armed with a degree in Environmental Science and decades of experience in sales and marketing, she built and led businesses, aimed at growth, communication, and creative strategy.
Living in the countryside with land at her disposal, she was drawn to try growing cut flowers—not because of a family tradition, but out of sheer eagerness to explore something new. Raised beds, annuals grown from seed, learning “on the job” with each season. In time, what started small began to blossom into wedding bouquets, market stalls, and orders for seasonal foliage.
Roz didn’t leave her marketing roots behind though —far from it. She put them to work when scaling up Field Gate Flowers, launching online courses like Seed to Vase, running workshops and retreats, and helping gardeners and prospective flower farmers to bridge the gap between dream and practice.
Beyond simply growing flowers, Roz invests in people. Some do it for joy, others as a second income or full-business. She’s mentored those who want to go professional, helped them think through what to grow, how to sell it, how to build a brand, how to use social media effectively. “One of the benefits of starting a business later in life is you’ve got more knowledge than you think you do,” she said. Her educational arm - The Cut Flower Collective - provides accessible, honest training. Whether for hobbyists wanting vases of blossom or for those dreaming of running flower farms, the emphasis is always on doing things well: ethically, seasonally, beautifully.
At Field Gate Flowers, sustainability isn’t a buzzword—it’s baked into everything. Roz and her team use organic and biological controls, seasonal British flowers, and avoid unnecessary imports. Her floristry style leans towards natural, seasonal foliage, scent, colour, and place.
Roz’s path hasn’t been without challenge. Weather, finances, learning the unpredictable art of farming—alongside the pressures of business building. But she’s often cited imposter syndrome and uncertainty as bigger barriers than dirt or drought. Starting later in life, she says, has its advantages: experience, resilience, perspective
For anyone starting out she offers practical advice: start simple; focus on what your customer wants; think about who you’re serving before you grow thousands of stems you can’t sell; use social media to show up regularly; don’t wait for perfection.
As Roz reflects now on more than a decade in flowers, her ambitions remain growing. New courses, more mentorship, more visibility - radio, TV, another book perhaps. And always more British blooms. She’s proof that it’s never too late to turn your soil into a story. And that gardens, after all, are about growth in every sense: plants, people & purpose.
